Happy Family Holiday in Poetic Southern China from Shanghai

Awesome 9-day private tour - Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou and Huangshan

This is our 2nd time using China Discovery Travel. My family of 4 including 2 teenagers had an awesome time during our 9-day private tour. Here's the summary:

Planning: We have worked with Jack Li, our tour consultant during our last trip to Beijing/Xian/Chengdu/Emeishan in the summer of 2017. As in 2017, Jack did an excellent job with customizing my 9-day itinerary. I asked for lots of different quotes due to changes in our travel plans/ dates, adding shows, changing hotel options. Every time, Jack was very responsive and helpful.

Day 1, 2 & 3 in Shanghai: Our local tour guide, Darcy, was great. He had excellent English skills and shared lots of interesting information regarding Shanghai. He was well organized and matched our pace very well since we didn't feel rushed. Originally, we had a stop at the Shanghai Museum; however, the queue outside the building was approx. 1.5 hrs during the weekend and summer holidays. He asked if we still wanted to visit the museum and suggested to visit Old Shanghai town instead. We were happy with the suggestion instead of standing in the hot blazing sun for 1.5 hrs. The driver assigned to partner with Darcy was super as well - very safe and smooth driving.

The Bund in Shanghai

Day 3 & 4 in Suzhou/Zhouzhuang/Hangzhou: Our tour guide, Jack, was excellent with excellent English and storytelling skills. He was very lively and happy. My kids thought he was very fun to hang out with. And again, the driver was great. The driver always had the van ready with air conditioner on. It was great. They booked us in for a fantastic lunch at a local restaurant in Zhouzhuang looking over the canal – it was very picturesque. Zhouzhuang was extremely beautiful and not very crowded since it was a weekday. China Discovery booked our high speed train tickets from Suzhou to Hangzhou (Tip: Make sure that you book 1st class tickets or better, you will not regret it since the 2nd class cabins are super busy and noisy). Jack, our tour guide provided excellent service by picking up our tickets and took us through security and to the boarding gate before he left us.

Lingering Garden in Suzhou

Zhouzhuang - China's No.1 Water Town

Day 4, 5 & 6 in Hangzhou: Our tour guide, Tony, was fantastic; in his 60s who was full of energy and experience. Tony’s English was excellent, and he was fantastic at telling us about the sights and stories of Hangzhou. We traveled from Hangzhou to Huangshan via high speed train. Tony was smart to pick up our tickets on the date of arrival so that we didn’t have to head to the train station super early in the morning on the date of departure. Tony, like Jack, took us through security and made sure that we were ok before leaving us. Fantastic service.

West Lake in Hangzhou

Day 6, 7 & 8 in Huangshan: Our tour guide, Ellen, was our favorite tour guide during this trip. She was welcoming, attentive and amazing at storytelling. As we visited the Hongcun and Xidi villages, she shared so much about village life, culture and traditions with us and my kids totally loved it. We also spent time with her hiking on Huangshan mountain. She was great at making sure that the pace was enjoyable and provided us with lots of information and encouragement along the long hike. She did an amazing job in making sure that our meals and hotel arrangements were perfect and went out of her way to correct any issues. Ellen was truly the best tour guide on this trip.

Hongcun Ancient Village in Huangshan

Stone Monkey Watching the Sea in Beihai Scenic Area of Yellow Mountain

Day 9 in Shanghai: We traveled back to Shanghai from Huangshan via 4 hrs on the high speed train. Darcy (our 1st tour guide on this trip) met us at the train station in Shanghai and guided us to our van/driver. Our driver then drove us to Shanghai Disneyland’s Toy Story Hotel. This driver was very polite and safe in his driving.

On this 2nd trip with them, my family and I had an awesome experience with China Discovery and we would definitely use them again for our next trip.